Escape
by Plucky-Star
Summary: Oh, it’s you.” She stated. The way she said it, Draco Malfoy could have been making love to her that very moment. It was so smooth yet at the same time so seductive, it had one literal meaning but meant so many things.


** ESCAPE**

_By Plucky_Star_

Disclaimer: The story conceived is purely original, but the characters, et al, is created and owned by JK Rowling. I do not wish to take credit for her wonderful work. 

The song used here is entitled "Escape" performed by Rupert Holmes.

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** I strongly recommend that you listen to the song "Escape" by Rupert Holmes as you read this. It gets the vibe going and it feels like an exotic summer. Ahh. J

** Escape (The Pina Colada Song)**

** (Rupert Holmes)**

_I was tired of my lady, we'd been together too long.  
Like a worn-out recording, of a favorite song.  
So while she lay there sleeping, I read the paper in bed.  
And in the personals column, there was this letter I read:_

Draco Malfoy lay down in bed reading the Daily Prophet. He browsed through the pages when he felt his wife of five years, Pansy Parkinson move under the covers. 

"Draco, isn't it too late to be reading the paper? Turn off the light please," Pansy muttered sleepily as she tried to avoid the blinding light.

Draco didn't answer, just shook his head and continued with his reading.

"Draco, for Merlin's sake turn off the freaking light!" Pansy whined. 

Draco continued to ignore her.

Pansy couldn't take it anymore, and like a volcano, she erupted, spitting out curses and how Draco Malfoy was a poor excuse for a husband and that she shouldn't have married him.

"Look here you fortune hunting whore, if you don't like to sleep with the light on, sleep on your own room or at any other room for the matter! There're 45 rooms in this manor and you can take your pick!" Draco exploded, throwing the Daily Prophet to the floor, his face filled with fury.

"You know what? I should be the one saying that I shouldn't have married you! You know what you do? Use up my trust fund and buy all those clothes like there was no tomorrow and nag! Pansy, do you know how grating that is to my nerves?!"

Pansy stared at her husband with fear this time. She didn't like getting Draco Malfoy mad and she spent the next seconds giving out an incomprehensible atonement. Draco shook his head as if he's had enough, stood up, grabbed the Daily Prophet from the floor and moved to a more peaceful area.

And once he was settled in the adjoining room, he opened the paper again.

_ "If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.  
If you're not into yoga, if you have half-a-brain.  
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.  
I'm the lady you've looked for, write to me, and escape."_

Draco Malfoy reread the stanza, note or whatever it was. It had gripped his soul in a way. It was like an advertisement for a tropical vacation wherein he could leave his worries behind, but Draco knew that the joy of going to a tropical vacation would be short-lived because Pansy would tag along as what happened just a month ago. 

But this was different. This was a secret escape, one that Pansy would not know about and one that he felt would be what he needed so much.

So he read it, and imagined the person who wrote it. She has certainly got to be a woman, he thought or else he'd be out of the meeting place before she could say "Hi". And then the word "yoga" registered into his mind. As much as he'd been known to hate muggles and anything related to it in the past, he knew what "yoga" was. And he knew that he wasn't into it, not trusting any form of "calisthenics" and the like.

He smirked at the "half-a-brain" part. He didn't have half-a-brain. He didn't become head boy for nothing, he was certain of that. 

Head Boy. His mind drifted to his Hogwarts days. And there was one thing that stayed stuck in his mind.

Hermione Granger. 

Head Girl.

The woman he despised the most and at the same time admired.

The woman he loathed and at the same time he lusted after.

The woman who was the forbidden fruit.

Or used to be the forbidden fruit.

Lucius Malfoy was dead.

Draco Malfoy was alive. 

He could make his own decisions.

But that didn't mean that he'd be balling Hermione Granger because his pride wouldn't let him.

Hermione Granger was the past, he muttered to himself.

And so he continued analyzing each line.

_I didn't think about my lady, I know that sounds kind of mean.  
But me and my old lady, had fallen into the same old dull routine.  
So I wrote to the paper, took out a personal ad.  
And though I'm nobody's poet, I thought it wasn't half-bad._

Draco Malfoy made up his mind. He'd answer this ad no matter how preposterous it might be. Draco Malfoy? Prominent Wizardry figure answering a personal ad? Cold, ruthless Draco Malfoy? Filthy rich Draco Malfoy? It was all unbelievable he thought. But nothing was believable now as long as he could escape.

So he thought about what to answer. And as he did this, he never once thought about Pansy or what her reaction would be if she caught him caught in this affair. No thoughts of Pansy came. All he knew was that he had to meet this woman. 

And so he began. Stopping for a couple of seconds, knowing that writing wasn't one of his strongest points. After a couple of minutes, he was done. 

He surveyed it.

_ "Yes, I like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.  
I'm not much into health food, I am into champagne.  
I've got to meet you by tomorrow noon, and cut through all this red tape.  
At a bar called O'Malley's, where we'll plan our escape."_

Yes, he answered, he likes Pina Coladas and that wasn't a lie. For the first time, he thought, he wouldn't be lying in a relationship, if ever this was one. He also like getting caught in the rain, something he's never done since forever because he was forbidden too and now, it seemed like an idiotic thing to do. He was not into health food, preferring the decadent ones over it and of course, he was into champagne, he could afford it.

And so that was it. He set the date, the time and the place. And as he took a finally look at what he wrote, he could feel his heart beating rapidly. 

It felt like a premonition.

The next day came. He found himself up at six. Something he rarely does. Pansy didn't seem to notice this. And then he remembered, he didn't sleep in "their" room. And for once he felt peaceful but at the same time apprehensive about what was to come. He sent the message through owl post and he knew that the Daily Prophet had posted this, sending thrice the money they asked for.

And so he stood up, took a look at himself in the mirror and shook his head.

"You look so uneasy, dearie," the mirror said to him.

How right you are, he thought.

Noon time came. He was at the bar called O'Mally's sitting at the darkest corner. He made sure that no one would see him, that he would be camouflaged and that only the _woman_ could know he was there. And so he waited. 

And then she came. Draco Malfoy knew instantly that it was her.

_ So I waited with high hopes, then she walked in the place.  
I knew her smile in an instant, I knew the curve of her face.  
It was my own lovely lady, and she said, "Oh, it's you."  
And we laughed for a moment, and I said, "I never knew"..  
  
_

It was Hermione Granger. She was standing there looking very much like the forbidden fruit that he would have loved to taste. She was radiant, she was glowing, she was absolutely a complete change from the Hermione Granger he once knew in the earlier years of Hogwarts. 

And then he felt his heart tighten, Hermione was looking at him.

He found himself giving her a nod.

"Oh, it's you." She stated. The way she said it, Draco Malfoy could have been making love to her that very moment. It was so smooth yet at the same time so seductive, it had one literal meaning but meant so many things.

"I never knew," Draco answered back, surveying Hermione as she sat down.

Hermione smiled at him, and Draco found himself smiling back.

"What? That I would be posting a personal ad?" Hermione asked.

Draco shrugged and continues to stare at her. Hermione didn't bluff. She knew what he was doing but she wasn't embarrassed. 

"Why did you answer then?"

"I don't know. I felt like I had to?"

Hermione gave a laugh.

"You had to? Draco—" she stopped. Draco looked at her. She never called him Draco. It was always Malfoy.

"What were you saying?" Draco asked.

"I never expected you to answer this. Yoga? I didn't even know that you knew that, being a very muggle-like activity." Hermione answered giving much emphasis on the word "muggle".

"The prejudices are still there, Granger?" he asked with an eyebrow up.

"Well Malfoy, I must say, I haven't seen you in a long time. So what would I expect?"

"That people change?"

Hermione was silent. She stared at him and for the first time, seeing him in a different light.

"You know for sure that you attempted to kill me before?" Hermione asked quietly.

"I would not deny it."

"Then why are you still here?"

"Why are you still here? Aren't you scared?"

They eyed each other, each trying to outlast the other. 

"Why did you post it?" Draco finally asked. 

"Because I'm looking for someone who actually knows what I'm talking about?"

"Pina Coladas? Well, not in this region. Yoga? Not if you had muggle studies. But making love at midnight is something I'm sure everyone knows."

"So you like Pina Coladas?"

Draco nodded.

"And you like getting caught in the rain?"

Draco nodded again.

"And you don't like yoga?"

Draco once again nodded

"I presume you have half-a-brain?"

"I have a full brain Granger,"

Hermione stared at him again. She paused for a while as if making up her mind on whether she should say the next line of her ad.

Finally she made up her mind and stared at him even more.

"Do you like making love at midnight?"

Draco was silent, staring at her, the tension getting thicker by the moment.

"I can show you how much I love making love at midnight," he whispered.

Hermione was immediately loss for words.

Finally she said, "I never knew

_ That you liked Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.  
And the feel of the ocean, and the taste of champagne.  
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.   
You're the love that I've looked for, come with me, and escape."_

"You mean that Granger?" Draco asked, his face getting closer by the second.

"Don't you like it Malfoy?"

"Well, as a matter of fact I'd love that very much."

And with that, he pressed his lips to Hermione, knowing at one that this was the one he was looking for.

_ "If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.  
If you're not into yoga, if you have half-a-brain.  
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.  
You're the love that I've looked for, come with me, and escape."_

** AUTHOR'S NOTE: ** If it wouldn't take much of your time, I'd really appreciate if you can review this. Thanks!


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